Automatic valve mechanism



April 21, 1925. 1,534,746

R.D.TACKABERRY AUTOMATIC VALVE MECHANISM Filed March 28, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet l 1210611101 Rab'erffl Thai align April 21, 1925. r 1,534,746

1 R. D. ACKABERRY 7 AUTOMATIC VALVE MECHANISM Filed March 28, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 E f 13 27 8 12 5 \v a" 10 E mbertzzz akm Patented Apr. 21, 1925.

PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT D. TACKABERRY, or LEwIstroN, MAINE.

AUTOMATIC VALVE MECHANISM.

Application filed March 28, 1922. Serial No. 547,555.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that ROBERT D. TAGKABERRY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lewiston, county of Androscoggin, Maine, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Valve Mechanism,

of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to automatic valve mechanism, and is particularly adapted for use in controlling the-flow of steam to the kiers or-tanks in which cloth or other material is boiled. For the purpose of this application, therefore, I shall show and describe my invention in its adaptation to this particular field, although it will be understood that such showing is purely illustrative and no Way limiting, and thatmy automatic valve mechanism may be used in a varietyof adaptations to control the flow of any fluid.

The object of my invention is to provide in a simple and inexpensive form an automatic valve mechanism which will be positive and reliable in operation and capable of ready assembly and disassembly,-for the purposes of cleaning or making repairs, and which will permit the period of flow of the fluid to be automatically varied accord ing to the requirements of the particular machine or apparatus to which the valve mechanism is applied.

This object, together with certain features of advantage which will appear more par- ,ticularly hereinafter, is secured in the device of the present invention.

The construction and operationof my in vention, together with a selected embodiment which well illustrates the principles involved, are described and shown in the accompanying specification and drawings and the characteristic features ofnovelty are particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Throughout the specification and drawings like reference characters are correspondingly applied, and in the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevation, partly broken away, showing an automatic valve mechanism in accordance with my invention applied to the steam system of a-boiling kieror tank.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the valve mechanism. I

Fig. 3 is a front elevation at the inlet end of the valve and particularly showing the driving mechanism for imparting an oscil lating motion to the valve.

r Fig. 4 is an enlarged longitudinalsection of the valve.

Fig. 5 is a view :orresponding to Fig. 3 and showing an arrangement for simultaneously operating a bank of valves each adapted to control an individual kier.

Figs. 6 and 6 are diagrams illustrating the operation of a single valve.

Fig. 7 is a face view of the valve disc.

I Fig. Sis a face view of the valve seat, and

Fig. 9 is a detail view of a device for distributing the fluid uniformly over the contents of the kier.

- My variable time valve mechanism is mounted in the steam system of the boiling kier or other apparatus under control and is operated at predetermined intervals or constantly, as determined by the driving and regulating devices, to permit and prevent the passage of steam to the kier. The regulating device enables the open and closed periods of the valve to be varied as circumstances may require and comprises a loose and a fast clutch element on the valve stem. The loose clutch element is operatively connected with the driving mechanism and transmits the actuation thereof to the fast clutch element and thus to the valve stem. which'is thereby turned to move the valve thereon relative to its seat to permit or prevent the passage of the fluid through ports in the valve and seat, according to whether or not said ports are in registry.

I have indicated at 1 and 2 the parts of a two-part valve casing which are bolted together as appears in Fig. 4:, and enclose a a valve disc 3. The disc?) is fast on the inner end of a valve stem 4 which is journaled through the outer casing part 1 in fluid tight relation thereto, as indicated at 5 and 5 in said figure. The inner casing part is recessed to contain a removable valve seat 6 which is held against rotation relative to the casing part 1 by a pin 7. The seat 6 has a central hole 8 providing a bearing for the inner end of the valve stem 4.- and below said hole has an extended port 9 with which a relatively small port 10 in the valve is adapted to register, as will be more fully explained hereinafter.

The fluid to be controlled is admitted into the chamber of the valve casing in advance of the valve 3 through an inlet pipe 11 which is threaded into a hole tapped into the under side of the casing part 1 and said fluid after passing through the ports 9 and 10, when said ports are in registry is delivered from the valve casing through an outlet pipe 12 which is threaded into a hole tapped into the casing part The port in the valve disc 3 is 01? equal area to the delivery opening of the supply pipe 11. The port 9 in the valve seat 6 is equal in radial dimension to the radial dimension of the port 10 and the length of its arc is equal to the complete passage of said port from one extreme of its oscillation to the opposite extreme.

The valve disc 3 is adapted to be auto matically oscil'latedrelative to its seat from a timer shaft 16 and the open and closed periods of the valve are automatically regulated by a collar 13 loose upon the valve stem 4 and having an integral lever arm 14 adapted to be connected in any suitable manner as by a connecting rod 15 and a crank arm 16wi'th the timer shaft 16 of a ,suitable timing mechanism, as an electric motor, which is directly connected to said shaft through a reducing gear train.

As here shown, the relative lengths of the lever arm 14, and crank 16 are so proportioned that the lever will move through an arc of 130 and return to its original position while the crank is describing on. complete revolution. Obviously, of course, this ratio may be varied as conditions may require.

The rotative motion of the crank 16 is thus transmitted to the lever arm 1 as os cillatory motion cii 'ective to rotate the collar 13 relative to a fast collar 17 which is keyed to the valve stem as indicated at 18 and 18'. lhe opposing faces of the collars 13 and 17 are provided with ratchet teeth 19 which intermesh so that the motion of the collar 13 is applied to the collar 17 and through the key 18 to the stem 4; whereby to turn the valve disc 3 relative to'its seat 6. V

The collar 17 preferably has two keyways 18' located at opposite sides of the stem and the key 18 is designed to engage in either of said keyways and is of such a length that the collar 17 may be moved outwardly and turned so that the key will prevent it from engaging the collar thereby rendering the valve inoperative. By having two keyways in the collar 17 and locating said keyways on opposite sides of the stem, the stem 4 and disc 3 of certain of the valve units may be turned through a half revolution relative to their respective seats 6 whereby to insure that such valve units will work in opposition to other valve units when the automatic mechanism is employed in a bank of valves as illustrated in Fig. 5, thus permitting a steady flow of the fluid or gas into the supply main. As an alternative adjustment, the seats 6 may be moved relative to the valve discs to accomplish this result.

The fast collar 17 is backed by a coil spring 22 which is confined about the valve stem 4 between said collar 17 and a retaining collar 23 applied to the outer end of said stem, and serves to maintain the collars 13 and 17 in engagement. Mounted on the collar 13 is a dial 27 which in conjunction with a pointer 28 on collar 17 indicates the time during which the valve will remain open as governed by the relative positions of the disc and seat.

hen arranged in series as shown in Fig. 5, the collar 13 of each individual valve. stem is provided with an arm and said arms are connected to a common motion transmitting connection 21 whereby the motion of the crank 16 as applied to the arm 14 of the nearest collar 13 in the bank of valve units will be simultaneously transmitted to all of the valve stems through said arm 20 and common motion transmitting connection 21.

Lubricant is supplied to all bearings for the valve stem from a lubricating cup 2 1 which is mounted in the outer end of a longitudinal passage in the valve stem. Passage 25 is provided with branch passages 26 leading to the several bearings for said stem.

In Fig. 1 one of my automatic valve units is shown as mounted in the steam system of a boiling kier or tank 30; In such installation an injector 32 is usually arranged in the pipe line 12' leading from the under side of the kier and with its direction of flow into a pipe 33 returning to the top of the kicr. whereby to keep the contents of the kicr in circulation.

Mounted within the kicr on a shaft 34 depending from the top thereof is a disc 35 til which is provided on both faces with sets of tion to the other blade series 36" on the lower disc face.

The operation is as follows: With the valve disc 3 disposed in such position as to bring its port 10 in the relation indicated at A. Fig. 6 to the port 9 of the valve seat 16 in the counter clockwise direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, and this motion is transmitted through the connections 15 and 14 to the loose collar 13.

The crank 16starts from the position A, Fig. 3. and the rotation thereof is applied as oscillary movement to the valve stem through the engagement of the teeth 19 of the collar 13 with the teeth of the first collar 17, and the valve disc'3 moves counterclockwise in Fig. 6' from the position A to the position B in said figure during the travel of the crank from position A to position B in Fig. 3. Theports 10 and 9 are now in register and the steam passes through said ports into outlet pipe 12. When the crank reaches the position 13. Fig. 3, the valve disc has reached the limit of its counterclockwise travel, and as the crank continues itsrotation, the disc reverses its K direction and commencesto move clockwise back to its original position A reaching such position when the crank reaches position A, Fig. 3, at which point the crank has described approximately one half a revolution. This is the open period of the valve.

The crank 16 then passes through the upper half of its revolution and as it travels from position A, Fig. 3, to. position C, the

half a revolution. This is'the closed period of the valve.

As described and illustrated herein the open and closed periods of the valve are equal but obviously any desired ration may be obtained. A convenient method of varying the ration consists in drawing the collar 17 away from the collar 13 and rotating said collar 17 by hand in either direction so that the port 10 will occupy a position with relation to the port 9, either above or below the relation hereinbefore described, thereby increasing or decreasing as the case may be, the open period of the valve.

Such an adiustment is indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 6, wherin the valve disc is represented as having been moved manually through approximately 90 to the point D in said figure, so that when the disc is set in motion, the port travels to position E, and returns to position D and from position D to position F and return to D, and hence the valve is constantly open. Obviously, by turning the disc through another are of 180 the valve will be constantly closed.

As contemplated herein, the collars 13 and 17 each have an annular series of twenty teeth thereby enabling the valve to operate in ten differentpositions by changing the relative relation of the collars to each other through one hall circumference. Ob viously, of course, the number of teeth may be varied at will. period for one complete oscillation of the valve may be varied at will by varying the speed of the motor or other drive for crank 16.

After passing through the valve 3, Fig. 1, the steam flows along the pipe 12 into the injector: 32 where it mingles with the water returning by gravity along pipe 12 from the kier 30, and the mixture is returned by the injector through the riser pipe 33 to the top of the kier for circulation. In entering the kier the fluid contacts the rotary distributor 35and is thrown uniformly over the contents of the kier.

Various modifications in the form and construction of my device may obviously be resorted to without departing from the,

spirit of my invention it within the limits ofthe appended claims.

What I therefore claim and desire to se- The total elapsed time I a rotatable timer, and operative connections from said timer to said valve effective to transmit the rotary motion of said timer to the valve as oscillatory motion and comprising a fast and a loose clutch element adapted to engage with each other, and a crank connection between said loose clutch element and said timer. 7

2. An automatic valve mechanism, comprising a valve seat, a valve stem having a valve movable relative to said seat, said valve and seat having ports adapted to register, a rotatable timer, and operative connections from said timer to said valve effective to transmit the rotary motion of said timer to the valve as oscillatory motion and comprising a fast and a loose clutch element on said valve stem, adapted to engage with each other, an arm carried by said loose clutch, and a crank connection from said arm to said timer.

3. An automatic valve mechanism, comprising a valve seat, a stem having a valve movable relative to said seat, said seat and valve having ports adapted to register, a rotatable timer, operative connections from said timer to said valve stem effective to transmit the rotary motion of said timer to the valve as oscillatory motion and including a fast and a loose collar on said stem having teeth adapted to intermesh, aspring normally urging said collars towards each other, an arm fast to said loose collar, and a connecting rod and crank from said arm to said timer.

4. An automatic valve mechanism, comprising a valve seat, a stem having a valve movable relative to said seat, said seat and valve having ports adapted to register, a rotatable timer, operative connections from said timer to said valve stem effective to transmit the rotary motion of said timer to the valve as oscillatory motion and includ ing a fast and a loose collar on said stem having teeth adapted to intermesh, a spring normally urging said collars towards each other, an arm fast to said loose collar, and a connecting rod and crank from said arm to said timer and said fast collar having a pair of keyways at opposite sides of the stem, and a key effectively engageable with either keyway and of a length sufficient to hold the collar out of engagement with the loose collar when the fast collar is moved longitudinally of the stem and turnedthrongh a partial revolution.

5. An automatic valve mechanism, comprising a valve seat, a stem having a valve movable relative to said seat, said seat and valve having ports adapted to register, a rotatable timer, operative connections from said timer to said valve stem effective to transmit the rotary motion of said timer to the valve as oscillatory motion and including a fast and a loose collar on said stem having teeth adapted to intermesh, a spring normally urging said collars towards each other, an arm fast to said loose collar, and a connecting rod and crank from said arm to said timer, and a dial carried by said loose collar and a pointer carried by said fast collar.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

ROBERT D. TACKABERRY. 

